“Just keep it real casual, then,” Jake advised him. “Nothing to indicate an interrogation, or that he’s not free to leave.”

Murray smiled and loosened his tie. “You got it, boss.”

A few questions led them out to the track, where Murray spotted the kid he’d ticketed on Friday night warming up for practice. He looked at them warily as they approached, but he agreed to speak with them. They walked him a bit away from the other kids.

“Mr. O’Connor,” Murray began. “Can I call you Will?”

“Um, sure,” Will mumbled, and then more clearly: “Yes. Officer.”

“Detective,” Murray corrected him. “We’re just checking in with all the kids we rounded up on Friday night, making sure that they understand how to address those underage-drinking tickets. I hope your dad wasn’t too hard on you? He didn’t look happy.”

Will was surprised by this line of questioning, and he laughed nervously. “Well, he wasn’t very happy. So, I, uh, just show up at court and pay the fine, right?”

“That’s it. Easy. Now, just so I get everything right in my report, can you tell me one more time how you came to be standing on River Road in the middle of the night?”

For a minute Will didn’t say anything. He seemed to be thinking it through. Jake knew, and Murray knew, that there was no real report, not for something the detective had initially considered so minor. Jake guessed that Will was trying to remember what the officer might already know.

Will looked down and kicked at the edge of the turf with the toe of his track shoe. “I was hanging out with my brother. Down near the rope swing. We had a few beers.” He blushed a little as he said this, glancing up at Jake and Murray.

“Just you and your brother?”

“Yeah.”

“What about those other kids? The girls?” Murray asked casually.

“Oh. Yeah. There were some other kids there, but we weren’t really hanging out with them. They came later.” Will’s voice was pained. He seemed like a kid who wasn’t used to lying.

“They came later, huh?” Murray asked, sounding confused. “That’s funny, you know, because I just had a chat with your brother, and he told me that he was only there to pick you up. That you needed a ride.”

Murray’s words caught Will completely by surprise. For a minute he didn’t speak at all, and Murray and Jake let the silence linger. Finally, with a sheepish look, Will tried to explain: “I must be mixing up my nights. Yeah, I think that’s right. I was there, in the woods with some friends, and then Trip showed up to meet me. To take me home.”